Nikon D800E after some use

I have been shooting with my D800E on some jobs, and while it hasn't replaced my Phase P45 in the studio, it is adding flexibility and speed to my location shoots which I might have previously used the MF Mamiya/Phase combo for.

I used it heavily for the Allianz Image Library shoot, and there a good and bad points. (oh dear, I feel bullet points coming on...

*At the camera end, I seem to have trouble setting up the AF so as not to back-focus. I'm using a target and the individual lens fine adjustment settings, but even then it misses.
I'm not the only one to report this, and Lloyd Chambers highlighted these issues exhaustively as he does (we are grateful as someone has to do it).

I use mainly fast primes and mostly Nikons best glass, but it doesn't help if the razor sharpness is off on the background.

*Capture One misbehaves with the Nikon. It crashes, it freezes, it looses tether, it fails to see images on CF card. This is probably the main reason I'm not totally ditching the Phase back. C1 is rock solid when tethered to its own hardware (as it should be). Wonder if Canon users struggle with CaptureOne as much?

All that aside, the quality is amazing and exceeds what is needed in hand held 35mm, as camera shake at such resolution becomes an issue, and forces me to a tripod unless shutterspeed is way up. I'm a bit old school and like to keep ISO at or near 100 (a fact that I notice doesn't seem to matter as much to young shooters)... (until they have an image rejected on quality grounds).

I will say this at my peril. We DO NOT NEED MORE MEGAPIXELS in 35mm cameras. I'm sure the amateur brigade and pixel peepers will scoff at this, but hey can go terrorise some online forums. Those of us shooting 35 and MF professionally know when enough is enough, and when it isn't, turn to the Phase when the job demands it.

RSVP and working with Cherith Crozier

After meeting Cherith and being impressed by her book and attitude, I'm happy the opportunity for a shoot together came around soon. The shoot for mature dating site RSVP involved set-builds and lots of back and forth on the propping, but the shoot day was a breeze, and client loved the results.
AD Niccola Philips was a pleasure to work with as usual and I'm sad to see her leave Mercer Bell to greener pastures.